


No Boyfriend Discount

by sweet_rabbit



Series: Red Velvet Latte [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Jealousy, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Love Triangles, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Texan Keith (Voltron), Valentine's Day, currently unedited because it's over 6000 words why, i will forever write texan keith after season 2, lotor and allura are childhood enemies, more texan in chapter 2 not so much 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9651176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweet_rabbit/pseuds/sweet_rabbit
Summary: Lance looked surprised by the question for a moment before saying, “Well, you see, I was on my way like usual, right? And then that guy, Lotor, who I nearly ran into last week comes up to me all ‘hey, it’s Lance right? Wanna come to my new coffee shop I just opened?’ and I’m all, ‘Whaaaaa? Dude that’s your place? That’s freakin’ awesome! But I can’t because I’m going to my boyfriend’s coffee shop.’”“Right, good.”“Yeah, but see, then he gave me a coupon soooooo…”Keith smacked his palm to his face and slowly dragged it down as he desperately tried not to lose his shit on his boyfriend.





	1. The Set Up

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ever write a one shot and immediately come up with another in the same series that you don't plan to write for another month and half, kids. It gives it time to fester into something that has feelings and drama. Don't worry, this is still stupid, but now we have "plot."

*~*~*~*~*

New Year’s was amazing for Keith.

Admittedly he had never been all that into the Kind Of holiday before, it was really just another party night with no huge impact whether you stayed up until midnight or not. Then you take into account different time zones, and the entirety of the scare of the year 2000 made zero sense. But this one? Yes, Keith had fun. He got to spend it with Lance and Hunk, while also meeting another of their friend’s, Pidge, whom he spent a good amount of the night talking about aliens with when he wasn’t attached to Lance.

Then before he knew it, midnight was beginning to be counted down and Lance suddenly grabbed a hold of him, practically yelling the numbers in his ear. Keith didn’t care though, he was too busy trying to hold down his excitement, knowing what was coming, but no matter how much he bit his tongue, or dug his fingernails into his hand he couldn’t calm the butterflies in his stomach when the two of them yelled out “Happy New Year!” and immediately pressed their lips together in their first kiss.

One tiny kiss quickly became two, which turned into three, four, and number five was a real long one that Pidge had to break up since they were still surrounded by their friends.

“So,” Hunk slowly began, “does this mean you two are official? Because I don’t know how much more I can take Lance whining about how much he wants to play with your hair, Keith.”

“Hunk!” Lance had squeaked, glancing at Keith with reddened cheeks before trying to turn away. Keith didn’t let him, though, and kept a firm hold on his waist no matter how much he playfully thrashed.

“You want to play with my hair?” he had teased. “Even though it’s a, what do you always call it? ‘Ugly mullet that should be dragged into the street and shot’?”

“I like your hair, not the chosen style! Get over yourself!”

Keith proceeded to pinch Lance’s sides making him shriek in laughter. Eventually they all ganged up on Lance and kept poking his waist and he valiantly tried to get away, only for Pidge to give mercy on him by belatedly tearing open the mess of balloons, confetti and glitter that she had set up earlier above them. She claimed, “better late than never” and while Lance complained about how long it was going to take to get the, “herpes glitter” out of his hair, Hunk informed Keith that Lance liked it when Keith pulled his hair into a ponytail.

With a grin, Keith proceeded to do just that as he settled into his typical spot for work, right in front of the espresso machine. Admittedly he had been toeing the line of short enough to let it flow and long enough that it needed to be pulled back or else the health inspector would dock them a point or two, but with new incentive to do so Keith figured it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. Glancing at the clock, he also noted that Lance was due to come in any minute and couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face if he tried.

The Honeymoon Phase was amazing, to say the least.

For himself and Lance that is.

“Ugh, stop it,” Hunk muttered, rudely snapping his fingers in Keith’s face. Seriously, the guy was a teddy bear but you tick him off and he turns into a passive aggressive asshole. “Your dopey smile makes you look high.”

“So?” Keith responded, scowl firmly back in place. “Not like people can actually see me back here. Isn’t that why I was banished to the back, because I glare at everybody?”

“Yeah, but like, why can’t you just have a basic customer service smile instead of one that screams ‘try the brownies!’”

“We don’t carry brownies… d-do you have some in the back?”

“No, I’d like to keep my job!”

“I meant regular brownies, not special ones!”

“Are you implying my brownies aren’t special?”

“You guys have brownies, now?!” Lance suddenly piped up as he leaned over the front counter.

“Ah, no dude, sorry,” Hunk said as he gently pushed Lance back to the customer side with his finger. “Keith’s just got the munchies.”

“Boo,” Lance pouted, seemingly not getting the joke. “I got really excited for no reason, now! You guys’ pastry selection is really lacking, ya’ know? Brownies would be a great addition and OH! Hunk, you could totally become a pastry chef here!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I have a lot more studying to do before I can even attempt to start something like that here. Gotta learn pricing and all that, lots of numbers that aren’t measurements.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Kind of, yeah.”

“Good morning, _boyfriend_ ,” Keith mumbled from the side. No, he was not pouting, Lance was the one who pouted.

“Hm, who said that? Surely not my boyfriend as he would never lie about brownies to me!”

“I never did! You just butted your nose into a private conversation and assumed things. As a customer you need to respect the employees’ privacy.”

Sure enough, Lance quickly broke into a fit of giggles. “Of course, how rude of me! Am I still allowed my morning coffee?”

“Depends,” Keith answered, biting his cheek to keep from smiling. “You gonna order a real coffee drink?”

“Yes, I always do since there is always coffee in aforementioned drink, thank you very much, sir. So yes, if you could whip up your best double espresso, half decaf, half regular, with whip cream on top and a drizzle of that raspberry syrup stuff you got for Valentine’s Day, OH! Write our initials on it, that will be super tacky and great, Keith!”

The huge grin Lance was giving his boyfriend was enough to make Keith willingly run into oncoming traffic and spray paint their names on the windshield of the first car that hit him, but even he had to admit a bit of embarrassment at the order. Nasty taste aside, Keith wasn’t the most… romantic of guys, he could admit this. He loved talking with Lance for hours on end and he especially loved making out with him, that was fantastic. But when it came to mushy couple stuff? He was rather “meh” on the idea.

“You realize how tiny the espresso cup is, right?” Keith tried to dissuade. Though, it was also the truth.

“It’s a freakin’ ‘L’ and ‘K’ with a plus mark in between,” Lance countered.

“Yeah and aren’t you an artist?” Hunk added, of course. “That should be no problem for you.”

Keith shot Hunk a glare before returning to his place at the espresso machine. He personally hated getting decaf espresso as well as only making one shot of the stuff considering the portafilter always made roughly two shots making the other useless. Keith would drink the regular but fuck that decaf shit, it was nasty. However, with another glance at his boyfriend of a little more than a month, he knew his fate was sealed and he would simply have to wallow in his personal embarrassment.

Because seriously, he knew Lance was going to Instagram the thing.

And fuck Keith’s life if he wasn’t going to do it because Lance was suddenly peeking over the top of the espresso machine, his eyes all crinkled in an obvious smile and… yeah, Keith had to really concentrate despite having made espresso’s for a few years now and could probably fix them in his sleep. Unless Lance was sleeping next him, that is.

“Hey, cutie,” Lance nearly cooed. “You doing anything for Valentine’s Day?”

“Valentine’s Day?” Keith repeated as he started the decaf and threw the other single shot of regular down his own throat. “You mean the biggest corporate holiday of the year?”

“I think you mean ‘tackiest’ and thus ‘best’ holiday of the year! What other day can you gorge yourself on chocolates and frilly pink shit?”

“Try any day of the year. Valentine’s is just the time when they jack the prices up for you to do so.”

Lance got up on his tip toes to show he was sticking his tongue out at the barista. “Well, still, I think it’s fun and so we should do something. Especially since it’ll be our first as a couple, ya’ know?”

Oh, Keith knew.

“Yeah, okay, you should have told me this sooner, don’t ya’ think? By now all the nice restaurants will be booked and the ones that don’t take reservations will be obnoxiously packed and while you may get a kick out of that stuff, I definitely do not.”

“Oh come on, we don’t have to do anything big! Just, you know, something cute and fun and spontaneous. From the heart!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll think about that, okay? Now back off, I need to focus here.”

Despite Keith being a trained artist, he wasn’t a trained cake decorator and maneuvering a brush vs a tube was turning out to be quite different. It seriously took all Keith’s concentration to get that tiny “K” and “L” on there, hence why he had shooed Lance away. It started to run over the sides pretty fast, but Lance thankfully grabbed it quick enough that he could, predictably, snap a picture and squeal about how it was going to be his new phone lock screen.

“It’s perfect!” he exclaimed as he practically launched himself over the serving counter to reach Keith.

Keith also saw this coming and had wisely moved the tiny espresso cup to the side so his boyfriend didn’t knock it over on his way into his arms. Then again, maybe it would have been for the better if it was ruined, Lance really didn’t need that concentrated amount of caffeine, decaf or no.

“Alright, alright,” Keith sighed. “You got your daily abomination of coffee, don’t you have class, soon?”

“Yeah,” Lance drawled in the other’s ear. “I could skip, though?”

“… You could. But while I wouldn’t mind you spending the rest of my shift here staring at me like a creep, I think Allura would.”

“What makes you say that? She loves me!”

“Yeah, well, she’s glaring at us right now, so, uh… maybe get to class?”

Sure enough, when Lance pulled his face out of Keith’s bare neck, he locked eyes with the manager who quickly pointed at him then the door. Before he could launch into a rant about how he was a paying customer and therefore always right, possibly a repeat rant of one he had given Keith in the past prior to their relationship, the reluctant barista gently removed Lance’s arms from him and settled him down on the appropriate side of the counter with a pat on the head.

“Come on, it’ll just be for the morning and then we’ll see each other for lunch, right?” Lance nodded while side eyeing Allura. Hopefully for his sake it was of fear and not of challenge. “Right… you, uh, gonna kiss me or what?”

“Or what!”

“Wha-?”

Lance’s lips made sure to interrupt any question Keith was about to voice to make quick contact with his own for a beautiful second. Then, before a proper good bye could be made and Allura could charge her way over, Lance was heading towards the door, disgusting espresso in hand while enthusiastically waving behind himself at everybody.

Which was a mistake since he then bumped into some tall, long haired guy as he was making his way into the coffee shop.

“Oh, sorry about that, man!” Keith heard Lance apologize.

“It’s fine, just be more careful,” the man responded. “I’d hate for you to hurt yourself or spill your, ah, rather small drink.”

“Naw, I’m good and so is the coffee! See?”

Keith attempted to make it look like he was working by wiping the same spot on the counter over and over, but wasn’t sure how convincing it was. Then again, he also didn’t care since Lance was very proudly shoving his drink up to the stranger’s eyes, no doubt to show off the “K” and “L” Keith had put there. His cheeks most certainly were not turning red from embarrassment, what was there to be embarrassed about? This guy didn’t know him.

“Hm, what’s this red stuff on top? It’s rather unappetizing.”

And this guy could also fuck off.

“What?! No way, that’s raspberry syrup.. stuff, I don’t really know, but it tastes great! Not as great as the red velvet stuff they had during the holidays, but that’s seasonal so I have to wait nearly a whole year to get that back. But this is a specially monogrammed espresso made just for me! They do that all the time here, you should totally ask them to do something for you, too.”

Lance, no, Keith thought in horror. Don’t you love me?!

“Monogrammed… interesting. I’m not quite seeing it but I’ll take your word for it, um…?”

The stranger held out his hand in question, as if he had any business asking Keith’s Freakin’ Boyfriend ™ for his name.

“Lance, regular of this fine establishment!”

“And I’m Lotor, first time customer. I hope to enjoy this place as much as you seem to.”

“Nice! It was cool meeting you, I gotta get to class, though, so maybe we’ll run into each other again and you can tell me how much you mcfreakin’ loved it here, okay?”

“Sounds wonderful, Lance. Have a good morning.”

“See ya’!”

Keith slightly raised his hand to say goodbye but quickly dropped it when he realized Lance was talking to this… Lotor, fellow. Or not, humans are capable of saying goodbye to more than one person at a time, right? Right. He wouldn’t be ashamed, however, to admit to giving this guy the stink eye as he walked up to the counter. Especially considering how his kind smile he had for Lance had vanished completely and he was turning his head to look all around the place with a critical eye.

Shit, is he a Health Inspector? Keith thought, preparing to give the High Sign to Allura.

“Good morning,” Hunk greeted the man once he was at the counter. “What can I get for you today?”

“Your manager,” he replied, barely wasting a glance at Hunk himself. “Or even better, the proprietor of this establishment.”

“Uh, yeah, sure! May I ask why?”

Hunk quickly made eye contact with Keith to silently communicate, “go to the back and drain the sanitizer sink because there is a ninety percent chance it’s cold now and therefore not up to standard.”

“No need, Hunk,” Allura suddenly spoke up from behind him. “Keith, you’re fine, too, keep doing what you were doing.”

Keith saluted while Hunk cautiously stepped to the side to very poorly pretend like he was stocking cups and straws and not completely ease dropping in on their conversation. Keith couldn’t blame him, he planned on doing the exact same thing considering Allura had a look in her eye that demanded blood. Things always got interesting when she got that look and lead to many a hilarious and satisfying rude customer take downs. Keith needed to write her a sonnet or paint a mural to her greatness in regards to taking no shit and slam dunking the lie that the customer is always right.

“Ah, Allura,” the stranger hummed. “So you **are** still slumming it in the ‘family business.’ How’s that been working for you?”

Keith and Hunk both paused in their fake tasks for a second and simultaneously gulped.

“Great, actually!” Allura replied, a shiny smile on her face. “It’s amazing how wonderful your life can be when you don’t bother with the insignificant parts of it. You know, like yourself, Lotor!”

“Lotor” simply threw his head back and laughed as obnoxiously as possible at this insult. “Charming as always, as well as frumpy. It’s good to come back to one’s home town and see that absolutely nothing has changed. The mole on your neck is just so comforting to be reacquainted with.”

“And your endless supply of bad breath was so dearly missed once you left here. Tell me, Fabio, what brings your unwanted self back to our humble town?”

“Typical that you didn’t notice, but I’ll let it slide considering how much time you need to spend bussing corners since Lord knows this place isn’t enough for a decent wage.” Keith was pretty sure he was rubbing a hole into the counter with how hard he had been continually wiping the same spot during this exchange. “Father’s business is expanding.”

“… Oh?”

“Yes, you remember Father, right? Your own father and uncle’s former business partner? Yes, well, I’m sure you are aware of his and by extension _my_ success with our own coffee business.”

Keith kept frantically looking over at Hunk to gauge his state of distress. He did not like the sound this talk was taking, and judging by the twitch in Allura’s eye she was even worse off.

“Your silence tells me everything. Don’t bother trying to find words of praise because I’ve heard it all. Well, we discussed it months ago and thought that it would be a great idea to return to where it all started, the quaint little town of Altea complete with the previous business that so rudely denied his plans for actually making a profit.”

“If my memory serves correctly,” Allura hissed through clenched teeth, “your father wasn’t happy with just one successful business and instead wanted to make it a chain. Which is fine for some people, but Father and Uncle Coran preferred to not sell their recipes to a larger company simply for more money as we were doing fine on our own, and still are for that matter.”

“Hm, you’re right,” Lotor hummed. “A small minded group that couldn’t see the larger picture, it’s understandable when stuck in such a little town.”

“It has a state university, this town is not in the back woods, stop acting like it is!”

“It might as well be what with all of the cow pastures stinking up the place!”

“Again, they belong to the freakin’ university! Go peddle your wares there!”

“I already have, that’s what I’m trying to get through that thick hair of yours! We’re opening down the street!”

“Well la-dee-FUCKING-da!”

“Rude, Allura! Very rude!”

“I ain’t here to make friends, I’m here to run a business and ban competition!”

“I assure you, we are not competition we are your Over Lords!”

“Still stuck on that space rangers show, Brace Face?!”

“Shut up, Spaghetti Head!”

Letting loose a battle cry reminiscent of Xena Warrior Princess (it’s a good show, Keith would never be ashamed to admit to loving it), Allura attempted to dive over the counter at Lotor, hands out in preparation to claw his eyes out. She came very close, too, except Hunk was faster and had grabbed her around the waist, practically swinging her in the air as she thrashed.

“BAN! BAN! BAN! YOU ARE BANNED!” she proceeded to screech, furiously pointing towards the door as she kicked at the counter. Poor Hunk was a trooper.

“Oh no, really?!” Lotor shouted back, all pretense of being possibly suave gone out the window. “However will I survive not being able to enter this shit hole?!”

“By fucking yourself!”

“It’s you and your business that will be fucked once I’m done with it!”

“Fat chance, I’m already getting it from my hot as hell fiancé!”

“Congratulations, I’m glad somebody can tolerate such a bitch! Now good day to you!”

With a battle cry and round house kick to a nearby heart display, Keith watched as Lotor practically floated towards the door in pure rage, only for his eyes to shift over to the barista’s direction. Keith made sure to meet the gaze head on. As the other’s eyes narrowed at him and his lip curled, Keith returned it with an eyebrow raised in challenge. Because if he was going to be a jerk to Allura, Keith’s future sister in law and possibly the greatest boss he could ever ask for, then the man had just made a new enemy.

Thankfully, his attempted graceful departure was ruined by Coran scurrying in through the door before he could leave.

“My goodness, if it isn’t Lotor!” the mustached man exclaimed in bizarre delight. “I see you’ve finally grown back that eyebrow, good for you!”

“Get bent, old man!”

After Lotor slammed the door behind him and yet another heart fell over due to his anger, Coran turned his attention to the rest of the store. Hunk was still holding a fuming Allura in the air, at least two disgustingly pink and shiny hearts were either dented or sadly crumpled on the ground and Keith was still on autopilot in regards to scrubbing the same spot in the most aggressive way possible.

“… Slav, how are you this fine morning!”

The three employees froze at the reminder that, oh yeah, there was their regular eccentric professor of physics sitting in his usual spot in the corner, coffee untouched as he stared wider eyed than normal at them. Keith groaned realizing his coffee was probably two degrees too cold by now if he was distracted by their… display, and thus went to go make a new one for him before he could complain, complete with a power point no doubt.

*~*~*~*~*

It was around only a week later after The Incident, that was not spoken of for fear of bursting into flames from Allura’s glare, that the new shop, The Black Forest Bakery, opened up down the street. Admittedly, it didn’t really cause that much of a difference in their sales. Keith was surprised and Allura was smug, but Coran had explained that while it still sold a similar product, they had a built in clientele with the locals as well as the fact that the Black Forest was pricier.

“So they’ll fail?” Allura had gleefully asked.

“Who knows?” Coran absentmindedly responded. “I can assure you all, though, that I shall remain standing here for as long as I am able to! Whether it be chained to the door or my bones beneath the flooring, it will be a cold day in hell when I am taken away from my baby!”

The employees had applauded his dedication and dramatics as their owner bowed with a tear.

Keith, however, was concerned.

He could tell mornings weren’t quite as busy as he was used to them being this time of year, but not by much. Busy was still busy, even if the line wasn’t out the door like usual. And honestly, from what he had researched on the Black Forest, their coffee methods and approach were different and they had different pastries, as well. It was closer to a coffee/bakery as opposed to a coffee shop that also offered a couple pastries, like theirs was. Also, from what he could get out of Coran that actually made sense, Allura and Lotor had never gotten along. True, their fathers had a spat regarding how best to run their business, but as Coran stated, the two men were successful in their own regards and after a decade it was unlikely Lotor’s father would put so much effort to run them out.

No, his concerns were not for the shop.

They were for his boyfriend who had yet to show up at his usual time.

He was fifteen minutes late and Keith was starting to sweat.

“Hunk!” he called out, in a very not high pitched panicky tone, thank you. “Is Lance sick? He would have texted me, I’m sure, but maybe he texted you instead?”

“Nah man,” Hunk answered after he handed a customer their change. “He did text me this really funny cat meme, like he does every Thursday, but that would kind of indicate he’s in perfect health. Why do you ask?”

“Wh-Are you serious?! He’s not here, he’s always here at nine in the morning to harass me and tell me I’m cute!”

“Hasn’t he only done that second one for a month?”

“A month and a week, but that’s not important. Something must have happened to him!”

“Dude, chill, you’re at work. Maybe he got distracted by something?”

“Like a suspicious white van with no windows?”

“… Alright, I can see you’re really concerned so since it’s a bit slower than normal how about you take a quick break to text or call him and stop worrying, okay? I’m sure we can manage without for you like five minutes or whatever.”

Hunk had barely finished his sentence before Keith was tossing his apron to the side and making his way to the back, phone in hand. He paused, however, when he caught sight of one of the empty squeeze bottles that were used for drizzling the syrups onto certain drinks. It quickly reminded him of Lance wanting their initials on that one espresso yet not drink thing and caused a smile to come to his face since Lance was still using the picture of it as his lock screen. However, this train of thought then lead to him remembering a certain conversation with a certain wannabe bishounen that happened the same day.

_“Nice! It was cool meeting you, I gotta get to class, though, so maybe we’ll run into each other again and you can tell me how much you mcfreakin’ loved it here, okay?”_

_“Sounds wonderful, Lance. Have a good morning.”_

Lotor technically knew Lance.

And Lance kept a tight schedule, shockingly, in regards to his coffee trips.

It would be no problem for Lotor to quickly notice this if he had a similar schedule.

Not to mention Lance was clearly a dedicated customer to The Lion’s Brew, and as such a new competitor would want to steal any and all regulars.

Especially super attractive ones who enjoy wearing theme sunglasses and getting foot massages for their disgusting ballet feet, but Keith does it anyway because, damnit, Lance needed the comfort.

Keith did a heel turn and nearly leaped across the counter to get to the door, Hunk shouting after him, “Where are you going man?! Cell reception is fine back there!”

“Lance has been kidnapped by Lotor and I’m going to save him, be back in ten!”

Giving Hunk no chance to object, Keith flew out the door and made his way down the sidewalk like a mad man, pedestrians be damned. Their rival shop wasn’t too far away, all the more reason to be suspicious of ill intent, and Keith had made sure the past few days to make notes on what exactly was going on. Sadly, there wasn’t much and it was pretty boring but he was doing this for his soon to be sister in law, it was important to her and if he was honest with himself, he kind of got a kick out of playing spy. Which is why he wasn’t saying anything to Shiro about this since he knew his brother would make fun of him, then tell Allura who would also make fun of him.

Or give him a raise when you take into account her hatred for Lotor.

In two minutes flat, Keith skidded to a halt in front of The Black Forest Bakery and peered in through the window. No point in going inside the den of evil if he turned out to be wrong about his assumption. The real question was whether he would admit it to Hunk or not, he had run out of there with a pretty strong conviction to his statement. And Hunk could be quite annoying when proven right about something, so Keith being wrong about this was sure to bring about the same reac-

“Lance!” Keith shouted mid mind rant.

Yes, he had been correct as Lance sat smack dab in the middle of the shop with none other than the Prince of Doom himself, Lotor. Not only that, but he appeared to be enjoying himself? Keith was flabbergasted and offended that Lance was smiling and possibly giggling with the blond haired devil as he enjoyed not only some sort of coffee but a brownie. A half-finished brownie, at that, indicating that he had been there for a while. Around twenty minutes if his original fifteen minute tardiness was to be accounted for, along with adding in Keith’s time for tracking him down.

He would have observed more but the glass window was fogging up due to his angry mouth breathing.

Keith gave himself a quick slap to his cheeks before heading inside to retrieve his man.

“You’re amazing, Lance!” Lotor was saying as he casually leaned back in his chair like he was some kind of model or whatever. “I would never be able to handle so many children and not lose my mind. And you are in school, too?”

“Yeah,” Lance replied, a bit of an embarrassed flush to his cheeks at the praise. Keith wanted to throw something. “I-it’s not that big of a deal, really, I mean it’s not like I’m the only college student working to make a living.”

“I suppose, but to also be so dedicated to an art that takes such a toll on your body is quite commendable, don’t let anybody claim otherwise.”

“Maybe, it’s ju-Keith! Hi, Keith, what are you doing here?!”

As Lance stood slightly from his seat once spotting Keith and waving like a beautiful mad man, he noticed Lotor slide his eyes over to him before following with his head, a la Nosferatu. How could Lance stand to be around this guy, let alone apparently choose to do so as opposed to greeting his boyfriend?

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said as he came up to him, making sure to give a peck to his cheek. “I should really be asking you that, since you didn’t show up at your regular time. I was worried.”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have been!” Lance sat back down but not before taking Keith’s hand as it was placed on his shoulder in a totally not possessive way. “Lotor, this is Keith, my boyfriend who I was telling you about.”

Said boyfriend let a smirk crawl onto his face as he made eye contact with the man in question. Lotor kept smile in place like a pro, however, and simply answered, “Yes, I had to really drill you to get you to stop talking about him and more about yourself. It’s as if he doesn’t let you know all of your good traits, or something.”

Keith’s smirk fell into a grimace. How dare he make that type of claim?!

“Ha, no way! I could never date somebody who didn’t talk about how great I was as often as I do myself!”

The three laughed at the joke, though it was uncomfortably obvious to observers that only one of them was genuine. Thankfully that person seemed happy to stay oblivious. Keith wasn’t sure he was pleased with that, though.

“All joking aside, why are you two together?” Lotor suddenly asked. The bluntness of the question seemed to shake Lance a bit, as he quickly stopped chuckling and instead looked between Lotor and Keith as if confused while opening and closing his mouth. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I assure you I don’t mean any ill will-” like hell he did “-it’s just that from what I remember meeting Keith at The Lion’s Brew he wasn’t the most… personal of people while you are just quite a joy to be around, is all.”

“I… um, well…”

Keith felt his nostrils flaring in anger at Lotor putting Lance on the spot like that. Who is able to immediately answer why they date someone outside of “because I want to?” Lance was obviously uncomfortable then, and so Keith quickly escalated the situation by grabbing his upper arm and pulling him to stand up.

“We’re leaving,” he stated. “Lance has class soon, you shouldn’t have been wasting his time.”

“I think Lance is perfectly capable of asserting himself to me,” Lotor responded, his chin resting casually in his palm. “He’s not a child.”

“Yeah, but he’s also too polite for his own good to tell you to beat it, so we’re leaving.”

“Wait, Keith, my brownie!” Lance protested as he was dragged out the door.

Keith was livid. That guy had no business asking about their relationship, especially when he had only just met Lance! And the way he was leaning as close as possible over the small table while asking it was just inappropriate. Keith could also almost swear he saw Lotor’s foot underneath the table touching Lance’s tight covered legs as he oh so discreetly crossed his own as if he was sneaky. Keith did the same thing on their dinner dates, Lotor wasn’t smooth at all. And who did he think he was, stealing Lance from his morning routine? And why didn’t Lance text him unless Lotor was being a controlling creep and-

“KEITH!” Lance’s yell finally broke through Keith’s ranting thoughts, as well as a sudden jerk when he yanked back his arm. “What the hell, you’re being a controlling creep!”

Okay… ouch.

“No I’m not!” Keith very maturely objected. “I’m saving you from a complete jerk!”

“Are you serious right now?! You ‘saved me’ from enjoying a brownie and a latte with a swan in it.”

“He drew a fucking swan in your latte?!”

“Not important right now! What’s with you, I’ve never seen you act like this?”

At Lance’s concerned gaze, Keith took a few deep breaths to try and center himself. He was mad, yes, but he logically knew that he shouldn’t have directed it at Lance. But he had been worried about him. Maybe a bit over exaggerated, true, but his heart was in the right place so shouldn’t that say something for his actions?

“Look,” Keith sighed. “You have such a strict routine that when you didn’t show up I was worried, okay? What happened, exactly, where you couldn’t be bothered to text me that you didn’t plan to come by that day?”

Lance looked surprised by the question for a moment before saying, “Well, you see, I was on my way like usual, right? And then that guy, Lotor, who I nearly ran into last week comes up to me all ‘Hey, it’s Lance right? Wanna come to my new coffee shop I just opened?’ and I’m all, ‘Whaaaaa? Dude that’s your place? That’s freakin’ awesome! But I can’t because I’m going to my boyfriend’s coffee shop.’”

“Right, good.”

“Yeah, but see, then he gave me a coupon soooooo…”

Keith smacked his palm to his face and slowly dragged it down as he desperately tried not to lose his shit on his boyfriend.

“So you’re saying,” Keith slowly began, “that you ‘forgot’ to text me that you weren’t showing up this morning… worrying me for no reason… because you got a discount from a stranger?”

“... Alright, you do have a point. I’m sorry for not thinking to tell you what was going on, I can relate and honestly should have maybe known better what with how hovering my mom can be.” Understatement of the century from what Keith knew and had experienced of his boyfriend’s family. “But you gotta admit, you were being super weird back there!” Lance continued.

“If by ‘weird’ you mean making sure my freakin’ boyfriend wasn’t being abducted then yeah, I was!”

“Don’t give me that! Once you saw that I was fine you should have dropped it but then you go and embarrass me by dragging me out of there like I'm a toddler and kind of hurting my arm if I’m being really real right now! What was up with that?”

“Are you serious?!” Keith could feel his anger getting the better of him at that point, but remembering how Lotor was practically undressing Lance with his eyes, he couldn’t stop himself. “Sorry that I’m a bit peeved that my boyfriend is not only at my business’s competition but also _flirting_ with some, some anime villain!”

“F-Flirting?! I wasn’t-!”

“I’m done talking about this, Lance, I don’t want you going back there or talking with that Lotor guy again, alright?! Like, it’s forbidden, you’re not going back! Now come on, I left Hunk without much notice by himself, I don’t want to listen to his passive aggressiveness more than I have to.”

As Keith turned around and began walking, he quickly noticed that Lance wasn’t following much less taking his normal spot to his right while lacing their fingers together. Glancing over his shoulder in confusion, the raging fire in his stomach quickly turned to ice when seeing Lance’s expression. It was one he had only seen during a particularly sad part in some animated kid’s movie during one of their stay-in dates.

“I can’t,” Lance forced out, while quickly taking his silly heart sunglasses off of his head to cover his wet eyes. “I have to get to class, remember? I assume I'm still allowed there?”

Before Keith could get his brain to work again and say something, his Hopefully Still Boyfriend had already turned around and rushed down the side walk while everything Keith had said to him fully clicked in his head.

Along with that fact that Valentine's Day was the following week...

*~*~*~*~*


	2. The Pay Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A year to the day and the conclusion has arrived! Sorry about that, for some reason I couldn't get chapter two written out no matter what, then it got to the point where I did indeed make the decision to just update on the same date I published this. Thanks to all you who still commented through the ENTIRE YEAR. Hope it was worth the wait!

*~*~*~*~*

Weekends were supposed to relax and recharge a person. Or, more specifically, they were supposed to relax and recharge students as a large majority of the adult world who worked did not get weekends off. This was always something Keith had to point out when on Fridays customers, adult customers, would tell him to, “have a good weekend!” Technically he liked his job, yes, but if they meant for him to also have a relaxing weekend, then he had to inform them that the Sunday morning church crowd was anything but relaxing to be around, no matter how high they were on the holy spirit.

Therefore, one would think that once you actually got a real life weekend off that that would be amazingly relaxing, right?

No.

Not if you were in the middle of wondering if you were still in a relationship or not, replaying all of the quite frankly fucked up controlling douche bag language you spewed at them, technically being forced to take the weekend off by your boss because you were bumming everybody out, and also fearing that your maybe still or not boyfriend was taking comfort in the arms of another.

Another who had much better hair than Keith, he could admit that.

With what was probably his thousandth groan, Keith buried his face deeper into his pillow in despair. Of course Lance was probably with Lotor, the two could share hair care tips. That was a topic that Keith did not care one bit about, but was then thinking maybe he should if it would get Lance back.

“Keith?” his dad hesitantly called by his opened door. The depressed loser has decided to pack his stuff from his shitty studio apartment and find comfort in his father’s not quite as shitty actual house. The free food was helping his mood.

Keith groaned again as a response.

“Right… So I got some s’mores pop tarts if ya' want any?”

An outstretched hand was his only answer.

“Yeah, nope, sorry Buddy. You gotta get up and git ‘em if you wan’ ‘em.”

With creaking bones and stiff joints, Keith valiantly lifted himself from his bed, only to then fall back down. A second attempt was made when he heard the sounds of the pop tart box being shaken, and once again found the spirit to rise up and get what was his. His legs and arms shook from being curled up in the fetal position for over twenty four hours, but still he made his way to the pop tarts with the hyper sharp focus of a panther for its prey.

Then his dad decided to be a prick and start walking backwards, making Keith have to move even more than he had planned to for the day.

“Come on, Buddy, I know you can do it!” he kept cheering like a proud father encouraging their baby to walk to them… which, okay, this was pretty much exactly what was going on, only about eighteen or so years late. “Just a lil’ further, you got this!”

“Meeeeeeh,” Keith shot back, voice scratchy and guttural.

“We’re focusin’ on walkin’ first, we can get to the talkin’ later, don’t worry nothin’ ‘bout it… then hygiene.”

This caused Keith to stumble a bit… Lance used to harass him about his hygiene.

Eventually he found he had been tricked into eating at the table like a normie. It was an annoying realization when all he wanted to do was wallow in self-pity and listen to depressing country music.

“Now son, I know all ya wanna do is wallow in self-pity and listen to depressin’ country music,” his father mind read, “but that just ain’t healthy.”

“Neither is a diet solely based on s’mores pop tarts,” Keith sassed.

As Keith finished off the rest of the pop tart and was about to get up and retreat to his den of despair, a mug of coffee was casually slid over to him causing him to halt in his movements. Eyeing his father, Keith slowly sat back in his chair and took the mug. Obviously he could have taken the mug to his room, but then he would be expected to bring it back in order for it to be washed. His plans for the day had not involved leaving his room, so he was making sure he wouldn’t have to leave it twice because fuck that.

“So,” his dad began. Keith desperately tried to chug his coffee, but that plan only lasted two seconds due to it being hot and stuff. He was desperate, common sense could take a back seat. “What’s wrong?”

“My life,” he answered, eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Which part? Ya’ owe a shady fella’ money, or…?”

“What?! Dad, no, why would you think that?!”

“I don’t know, son, I ain’t never been part of the art world!”

“You seriously think I’ve been meetin' some jack behind the alleys or somethin’?!”

“You tell me!”

“No, Jesus!”

“What’ve I told you ‘bout takin’ the Lord’s name in vain under my roof?!”

“Not to but I’d take that rule more seriously iffin’ you’re a regular member of the church, which ya’ ain’t!”

“Not my fault they’re backwards as hell and wouldn’t let me be in charge of the bake sale!”

“Dear God, not the bake sale again, please have mercy!”

“I will if you stop callin’ me God and start tellin’ me your problem!”

“Lance hates me, God!”

It’s amazing how quick after moving out you think you’re an adult, only to then go back home and find yourself reverting back to being a five year old. Case in point, Keith soon found himself sobbing in his father’s lap while the man rocked him back and forth while shushing him. It didn’t take much for him to then spill his guts out on what happened and how bad he felt for having talked to Lance like that, complete with choking and sniveling throughout making it so that really only a parent who had dealt with that stuff for years could understand.

Eventually Keith calmed down enough to sip some more of his coffee, while still in his dad’s lap, and let out a huge sigh. He was still upset, but it felt good to get it all out.

“Well,” his dad hummed with a pat to Keith’s back, “looks like ya’ still got that temper o’ yers goin’ strong, huh?”

Keith groaned in annoyance before saying, “Yeah, no kiddin’. Thanks for your astute conclusions, Father.”

“Don’t sass me, boy, or I’ll drop ya’. But look, the good thing here is that you know what you done wrong and sounds like ya’ got that figured out pretty damn quick, right?” Keith nodded. “Right and that’s good! This is just one o’ them steps in understandin’ how to navigate a relationship. Yer gonna have fights, ya’ just gotta figure out how to fix ‘em. Mainly you gotta apologize ‘cause, Jesus, that is some words you spat out at your poor boy.”

Keith groaned again and chose to ignore his dad also taking the lord’s name in vain. He knew he needed to apologize, that was pretty obvious. It was mainly a case of how? He knew texting was a no go, he wasn’t that big of a social dumbass, but did that also go for calling? Then again, Lance might have had his number blocked. He hadn’t tried any communication since their fight… that probably wasn’t helping anything.

The only thing he could think of at that time was to attempt to talk to Hunk. He wasn’t sure if Lance had told Hunk what had happened, but the guy wasn’t glaring at him at work the other day so that was at least something, maybe?

“I’ll think of something,” Keith finally muttered into his mug. “I do really like Lance and want this to work, it’s just…”

“Awkward?” his dad supplied.

“Yeah.”

“It’s to be expected. Nobody feels good comin’ back with their tail between their legs, but trust me when I say it’s worth it.”

Looking up from his coffee, Keith couldn’t help but smile in thanks to his dad. The man looked rough around the edges, which he most certainly was and Keith was pretty sure that that was where he himself got it from, but at the end of the day he was always there to help his kids. It was something he was grateful for and considered himself lucky that he still lived so close to him.

“However you really gotta get this straightened out quick ‘cause yer mom’s comin’ home in two days and what with Valentine’s Day on Wednesday I was really lookin’ forward to havin’ it with no kids in the house finally if ya’ catch what I’m sayin’... So, uh, yeah get on that.”

The man was also a good motivator because that made Keith move faster than he had in probably months.

*~*~*~*~*

Sunday was the day Keith made it back to his apartment. Monday was the day he started back at work after his forced mental health days. Admittedly, they were useful. Useful in that he had his motivation back, but not useful enough to help him figure out how to make it up to Lance. A Lance who apparently had also been AWOL since their spat.

“Is he okay?!” Keith nearly screamed in Hunk’s face when he was met with the news.

“Obviously not,” Hunk muttered while flicking Keith’s hands off of his apron. “And I think you know why.”

Keith could only chew his lip and avoid eye contact after that statement.

“Right. Look man, I’m not about to get involved, this is something you two got to work out together. And no, I love Lance like a brother, but I don’t plan on killing you.”

“But I do!” Lance’s actual brother shouted from the doorway.

Keith shuddered at the sound of a voice mid-puberty that could only belong to the main person from the Ramirez clan Keith made a point to avoid. Yes, he had yet to meet any of them outside of that horrendous Mall Train episode, but at least the others in Lance's group back then didn't come across as if they wanted to kill Keith. Of course, Jaime, the little wannabe murderer in question, made it clear that a large portion of Lance's family had their issues with their relationship, but Keith felt that it would be less annoying to deal with adults in that regard than with a fourteen year old. Looking to the doorway and confirming Jaime's presence complete with a rather dramatic sunlight beaming around him, Keith didn't bother to hide the grimace on his face. This was probably divine punishment sent from above, considering the fact that Jaime had never set foot inside the coffee shop even once, despite Lance being a regular. Did the kid even drink coffee?

“Get over here, Nedlir!” the annoying teen continued. “I’m gonna kick your ass!”

“Go for it, I have zero issues beating up a kid,” Keith growled.

“No, no, not gonna happen!” Hunk responsibly butted in, placing himself nearly on top of the counter to keep Jaime and Keith at least five feet away from one another. “No violence in the coffee shop, this is my happy place! Now Keith, I think you should take a five minute mental health break while I get Jaime his hot chocolate.”

“Wha-! I-I don’t get hot chocolate, what are you…?!”Jame’s embarrassed spluttering was ignored by the wound up barista as he hung up his apron and grabbed some tea. Tea was supposed to sooth one’s body and clear the mind, so maybe it would help in his plans on how to apologize to Lance. It’s a shame it couldn’t simply be a case of bare knuckle brawling with Lotor behind a parking lot, Lance as the prize. A lot of people would be insulted at the idea of being a prize two others were fighting for, but something told Keith that his Precious Blueberry ™ would get a huge kick out of it.

He sat down/oozed into a corner table to avoid other people and sketch out comic ideas for his big romantic apology, only to be immediately interrupted by a tiny people.

“What do you want?” Keith asked Jaime while they glared at one another.

“I want you to fix Lance,” he replied. Keith raised an eyebrow in confusion at the wording.

“Is he, like… leaking or-?”

“No, you idiot! Well, okay, he kind of is because he hasn’t stopped crying for nearly two days now and, HEY! Sit back down, I’m not done!”

Sitting back down was a difficult task to do when one was armed with the knowledge of a crying Lance. But he endured. Because he hadn’t yet acquired the three dozen roses necessary to further his quest. Instead he refocused his glare to Jaime, waiting for him to continue as he sipped his (totally not) hot chocolate.

“Look,” he finally said. “I don’t like you. And I don’t like you dating Lance, alright?” Keith stiffly nodded. “But I also don’t like Lance being upset. He won’t tell even Mama what happened, and all we know is that it’s not school related.”

“Alright,” Keith mumbled, a small part of him relieved that Jaime wasn’t aware of what Keith said. It was swallowed by guilt, though, so whatever. “Then why are you here harassing me? Also, shouldn’t you be in school?”

“You don’t tell Lance or any of my family I’m skipping, I won’t tell them that the reason Lance is so upset is because of you.”

Okay, so maybe the kid did know, or at least had some idea. Or just really, really hated Keith and thus wanted it to be the case and so had no qualms about lying about it to them. The second one was more likely. However…

“I’m getting the impression you have some sort of plan?” Keith hesitantly asked. Sure enough, Jaime looked away in righteous embarrassment.

“Like I said, I don’t like Lance being upset, none of us do. He was really happy for the last two months and we want that back, so just… Just know that Lance has the humor of a twelve year old and finds anything with dicks to be the height of comedy. Anybody who can make him laugh will be rewarded with at least a few minutes of his time, okay?”

As Jaime walked out, Keith realized two things: one was that his tea had done absolutely nothing to soothe any part of his being and instead just burnt his tongue. The second was that Jaime had seriously just helped him for the sake of his brother’s happiness, implying that he felt despite Keith fucking up, their relationship was still worth salvaging.

He also knew exactly how to make it up to Lance.

*~*~*~*~*

Keith ended up spending the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday perfecting his gift as he needed lots of practice with the squeeze bottle of mocha. Luckily Coran and Allura just saw it as him wanting to perfect his craft for the sake of customer satisfaction. That wasn’t completely off base as Lace was, hopefully, still a customer so yes it was to a specific customer’s satisfaction. Allura was also pleased as she saw it as an edge above their new competition, something her and Coran were tirelessly coming up with themselves in the back kitchen.

The newest coffee flavor turned out to be mocha pomegranate.

The idea came when Hunk brought in chocolate pomegranate petite fours and they were unfairly delicious and adorable. Before that the flavor ideas were more along the lines of mocha garlic mint, something Coran swore by from a late night munchies binge at two am back in the 80’s. It was considered more to do with the fact that nobody else would come up with such a thing, but was also a horrifying thing to imagine tasting. It was really the entire reason Hunk whipped up those petite fours in one night, a craft that is notoriously time consuming.

And that’s how Hunk may have saved the business.

And Valentine's Day.

And possibly Keith’s relationship so long as he could also pull off convincing Lance to come in there.

Which, if going by the clock reading 9:05, was something that he might not have succeeded in.

“Hunk!” Keith called up to the counter.

“Keith, unless this has to do with you suddenly becoming psychic making it so you know all of the customers from the front to out the freakin’ door’s orders, I don’t want to hear it!”

Yeah, Valentine’s Day was a busy day. Keith never considered coffee romantic, but that’s clearly a thought he should reevaluate considering how his relationship started. Or, previous relationship? He wasn’t sure where they stood. Another reason why he and Lance really, really needed to at least talk to one another.

“Is Lance in line?” he continued as he blindly steamed possibly his eightieth milk that morning, not including the skim milk or the almond milk.

“That’ll be two twenty five, we’ll be out with your order as soon as possible and I don’t know Keith, try looking for yourself!”

Trying not to take it as an insult due to his… slightly below average height, Keith furrowed his brows and stood up on his toes to try and look over the espresso machine. It was hard to tell given how packed the café was, and also that he was trying to pour the latte at least halfway decent while doing so, but he did get two people’s attention.

“Hey, Keith!” Rolo, a classmate/fellow former delinquent of Keith’s, called out when he spotted him. Stepping out of line with a tall blonde haired girl, the two made their way over to Keith’s station. “Crazy that I can recognize only that glare of your’s, huh? How ya’ been, man!”

“… Decent,” Keith grunted out. He would be civil to the guy as he was technically a customer, but given their history he was cautious to reacquaint himself with him too much. “You?”

“Can’t complain, actually started school to be a welder and side artist for sculpture, then met a real pretty lady who I’m currently having the pleasure of dating. She’s not here, though, so I guess I’ll introduce you to Nyma, instead.”

The blonde lightly elbowed Rolo’s stomach, a fond smirk on her lips. “Yeah, I’m Nyma,” she began, “and also the real pretty lady he was claiming to date. You’re Keith, then?”

“Yeah. Sorry can’t really talk too much, work and stuff happening here.”

“Hm, right… say, real quick, you wouldn’t happen to know a guy named Lance, would you?”

Work stuff could wait.

“Yeah, we, uh, I’m kind of dating a guy named Lance Ramirez. You know him?”

A large grin spread on Nyma’s face and she hopped before replying, “Ah, you’re as emo edge lord looking as he said you are, this is great! I can’t wait to tell him I met you, I love it! But yeah, we’re in dance together and are almost always partners. He’s great, real steady hold so I’ve never been nervous about him dropping me.”

“What, no way!” Rolo added. “Small world. The four of us should go on a double date sometime.”

Keith nodded a bit while continuing on with the never ending drink list. It was also 9:10 and there was still no sign of Lance. He hadn’t come in the other two days, either, but surely he’d want to stop by to try their Valentine’s Day flavor, right? Hunk especially requested him to show up, too, so what was the problem? Unless…

“Nyma!” he exclaimed before the two could excuse themselves to go back in line. The girl snapped her eyes back to Keith, giving him her full attention. “Ah, have you by chance noticed if Lance has been getting coffee from somewhere else these last few days?”

Nyma seemed to think about it for a second before responding, “You know what, yeah. He’s been getting it from that new place, Black Forest Bakery I think it’s called? Which is a bit weird since he’s always getting it from here and going on about how great this place is with it’s weird flavors. It’s why me and Rolo are here, we wanted to check out the Valentine’s Day one… You okay?”

No Keith was the exact opposite of okay as it seemed that his previous nightmare of Lotor stealing Lance away from him had possibly come true. And if it had, then that meant it was all Keith’s fault!

There was no other choice.

Working quickly, Keith made up a classic latte with the mocha pomegranate flavor before snatching up the squeeze bottle for the mocha. Rolo and Nyma were peering over the espresso machine in fascination while Hunk looked on in horror, possibly realizing what was about to happen. With a few squirts of the pomegranate and the feeling that Allura was stalking towards him in that, “bitch don’t do it” strut of hers, Keith didn’t bother taking off his apron and instead slipped out from beneath the flip counter.

“Ten minutes, I promise!” he shouted over his shoulder while awkwardly speed walking out the door to prevent his masterpiece from any harm coming to it. He heard a heart breaking moan of, “you said that last time!” from his coworker, but when everybody in the store was cheering his entertaining lunacy, it was hard to think twice on it.

Luckily, Keith had also perfected his run time in getting to the Black Forest Bakery in a minute flat. Hopefully he could complete the rest of his mission in less than eight minutes because there was a hot chance he could be fired. Or, more like six minutes, as there were two that were needed for Keith to work his nerve up to go inside of the place. Nerves for both seeing Lance again, and also possibly seeing Lotor.

With a huge gulp of air, Keith opened the door as casually as he could, the bells ringing above his head making him flinch, and before he could even simply scan the room his eyes fell directly on Lance.

Who was looking directly at him in return.

The gulp of air he had just taken fled Keith’s lungs in one long whoosh, his knees nearly collapsing under him with the extreme feeling of “nope, not ready!” ringing throughout his chest. But remembering his father’s statement of this stuff always being awful to get through and Jaime’s telling him how sad Lance was, he knew that it was now or never.

And especially because Lance was worth it.

“L-Lance,” Keith started as he practically robot walked over to where he was seated, no Lotor in sight, thankfully.

“… Hi,” Lance answered. His eyes kept darting all over the place, only landing on Keith for a second before changing focus. “Um, what are you-”

“I’m sorry!”

That was definitely way louder than intended. Also forceful if Lance’s sudden jump back in his seat was any indication. Oh well, his attention was gotten therefore it was good.

Powering on, Keith continued, “I’m sorry about last week and how much of a jerk I was being! I-I didn’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t trust you, I do! I don’t trust other people and yeah, that doesn’t sound that great, either, but you’re just so good looking and fun to be around and everybody likes you already, so I guess I’m just… insecure? Huh, I am. Wow, I literally just realized that…”

The white knuckle grip Keith had had his hand in (the one not holding the coffee, he made sure of that) dropped limply to his side at this revelation. How had he not realized that about himself?

“Um, well,” Lance was saying (oh thank the Lord, Lance was speaking to him!). “Sometimes you don’t notice stuff about yourself until you’re talking it out? That’s happened a few times to me with my, uh, therapist.” Keith nodded. “But that certainly explains a lot.”

“Uh huh… I got you coffee.”

Keith robot armed the coffee to Lance’s face, still nervous despite the opened communication. Lance looked up at him and then around the coffee shop, an eyebrow raised to clearly indicate he found this exchange a bit odd. Nonetheless, he still reached out and took it, eyes then firmly locked onto Keith’s face before he began to bring it to his mouth.

“No wait!” Keith shouted, gaining the attention of the crowded coffee shop. Seriously, why was Valentine’s Day a busy day?! “I made it special!”

“Special how?” Lance challenged. “Special in that you sprinkled cinnamon in it or special in that I’m going to suddenly wake up in a bath tub full of ice and a kidney missing?”

“Kidney miss… What are you talking about?! Special in that I made if for you and therefore it’s special!”

“Then let me drink it!”

“No!”

“Why not?!”

“It’s special!”

“Special how, this is not a difficult question!”

“Nor is it a difficult request for you to look at it before drinking it! Why don't you look at your drinks before drinking them?!”

“Then why didn’t you say so from the start?!”

“Because we’re apparently really bad at communicating and that’s something I want to change because I love you and don’t want you to date anybody else!”

In the back of Keith’s mind, he registered that the entire shop let out a collective “aaaaw!” of this declaration, considering that the two had pretty much demanded that the place pay particular attention to them given the volume of their argument.

“Which is why I drew a dick in your latte!”

That pretty much destroyed any and all bits of cuteness the customers may have found.

Unless you were Lance freakin’ Ramirez. Then your eyes grew huge and your mouth started twitching from trying to contain one of your famous full faced grins. Looking down, finally, there Lance saw it and promptly burst into uncontrollable laughter. He would have also fallen out of his seat had Keith not been there to catch him, as well as place the latte cup safely onto the table.

While the two clung to each other, now both laughing, Lotor had made his way back to the front of the store to see what the commotion was, as well as deliver Lance a personally made latte with a double heart in it. Taking one look at the pair on the floor, he kept his sneer of disgust off of his face for public relations purposes and instead opted to place the perfectly crafted drink on the table with the intention of also grabbing a cheese danish for his most favorite customer.

Except he was taken aback in further disgust upon seeing a latte already on the table, and from that tacky Shop Which Will Not Be Spoken, no less. It’s art was truly a horrid sigh to see, as it was done with mocha syrup like a no talent barista who couldn’t figure out simple latte art. Even worse was the subject matter.

It was a little caricature head of Lance’s brooding boyfriend, Keith.

A true dick in a latte.

*~*~*~*~*

It was late, and more than likely Lance probably should have been getting home. His family might worry about him given his mood for the past few days, not to mention he had an early class in the morning. But he hadn’t brought it up, so Keith wasn’t going to, either. Instead, he was just going to lay back and enjoy his take out Chinese, in his own shitty studio apartment, on his equally shitty couch, while his Still Boyfriend went on about possibly going to couples counseling.

“It gets a bad rap, ya’ know?” he was saying. “Like, it’s only shown in media for when a couple is on the brink of divorce when it can also be used for newer ones to better communicate.”

“Or for members of our species who don’t get human interactions,” Keith supplied around a mouthful of rice.

Lance laughed and lightly shoved his arm. “Stop making yourself out to be some alien! I know that that’s one of your wet dreams, but you need to face the facts and accept that you are a mere human with all the others humans on Earth.”

“Mm, would the counselor ask about our wet dreams? Because I don’t know if I can handle that.”

“You know, I really don’t know the answer to that. Maybe? It could be to get deeper into our psyche to what we really desire in a relationship or something. Why, do you desire I dress up as an alien in the bed room?”

“… Not recently, no.”

Lance’s eyes got that much missed mischievous gleam in them while his lips turned up in a cat like smirk. “What was that pause for?”

Keith shot a glare at Lance before trying to stuff as much beef and rice into his mouth as possible. This only made Lance even more giddy as he somehow slithered his face between Keith’s arms from beneath his tray of food, his own arms coming up to lazily hang over Keith’s shoulders. Not put off by his cheeks full of food, Lance merely grinned and huskily whispered, “Take me to your leader, sweet thang.”

He was lucky Keith didn’t spit his food out right into his face from his sudden need to laugh. This somehow turned into a wrestling match more than a sexy make out, despite there being the sneaky kiss here and there, but that was okay. It wasn’t a fancy Valentine’s Day dinner or anything, but Keith would argue that it was still pretty damn romantic since it was a step forward in their relationship.

The Honey Moon Stage was starting to close down, and in its place was what Keith hoped was the start of a strong foundation of a relationship. Lotor’s “I’m watching you” gesture to Keith as the two were escorted out of the Black Forest Bakery meant nothing to Keith, nor did Jaime’s angry text demanding Lance be brought home cause more than a question of how on Earth did the kid get his number. Keith trusted Lance's judgement, despite his own apparent insecurities, and that was what mattered. In the end, there was still a lot of work to do, but that was okay. 

Lance was worth it.

They were worth it.

*~*~*~*~*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Communication is sexy. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, enjoy much tackiness and chocolate.
> 
> Also, if you all want more Keith and Lotor acting like dorks to appease Lance, I have another fic called Galra 1/2 I'm about to post in a few days. Even has about four chapters written up, so much less of a wait time there! :D

**Author's Note:**

> This is more than the minimum word requirement for the Voltron Big Bang and yet it's only one of two... Stay tuned for the triumphant return of Keith's arch nemesis, Jaime, along with 40% more Texan Keith with added Texan Dad because I can't NOT put that in after season 2. (will proof read tomorrow... fingers too sore)


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